Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCruel Old Party
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/05/the_gop_s_passage_of_trumpcare_is_one_of_the_cruelest_things_the_party_has.htmlCruel Old Party
The GOPs passage of Trumpcare is one of the most callous things the party has ever done.
By Jamelle Bouie
The Republican Party won control of government promising help. Help for the unemployed, help for the uninsured; help for the struggling, help for the anxious. But help isn't on its agenda. The plan, instead, is cruelty.
Its how we get the Affordable Health Care Act, a profoundly nasty bill whose callousness is just barely matched by its shoddy, haphazard construction. Here is what the AHCA, deemed Trumpcare, would do if signed into law: Allow states to waive coverage for essential health benefits like hospitalization, maternity care, and mental health coverage; allow discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions like asthma, cancer, and other ailments without a safety net for Americans priced out of the individual market; allow employers to hollow out health benefits for their employees, threatening health insurance for the millions of Americans who receive it through their jobs; remove funding that helps give care to children in special education classes; and not least, it would cut Medicaid spending and end the Medicaid expansion, taking $880 billion from the program.
Under the original AHCA, 24 million people would lose insurance by the end of the decade, relative to the status quo. We dont have an outlook for this latest, and final, version from the House; desperate to pass the bill and avoid further scrutiny, House Republicans have ignored the Congressional Budget Office and kept the text of the bill from public view. But when youve ended protections for pre-existing conditions and destabilized individual and group markets, its a virtual guarantee that even more Americans will lose health insurance on top of those 24 million.
Thats millions of low-income Americans, unable to pay for basicbut often life-savingcare. Thats millions of American women, ineligible for health insurance because they were once pregnant, or abused, or raped. Thats addicts, many in communities that voted for Donald Trump and back Republican lawmakers, who cant purchase or afford insurance because of their addiction. Thats someone struggling with mental health issues, now deemed a high risk for insurers. Thats countless Americans who, through chance or fate, live with injuries and disorders and diseases that will leave them uninsurable without the protections of the Affordable Care Act.
snip//
Ryan and his singular drive are emblematic of the party he leads. The GOP is well in the grip of an ideological mania, committed to a rigid and hierarchical vision of America, where help comes only to those who deserve it, and where the deserving are a small, select group, chosen by the market, or defined by their inherited wealth and privilege. If the American Health Care Act is a callous and destructive bill, its because it come from a party thats made cruelty its cardinal virtue.
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
2 replies, 3195 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (9)
ReplyReply to this post
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Cruel Old Party (Original Post)
babylonsister
May 2017
OP
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)1. Good read but infuriating.
Recommended.
Docreed2003
(16,875 posts)2. K&R...brutal exposure of the GOP!